Preventive Care in Nursing & Midwifery Journal
Volume:4 Issue: 2, 2015

Mobile-based education as the most basic form of e-health initiatives can be an important aspect to be considered and valued for providing health services. This study assessed the effect of education via short message service on hemoglobin A1C and self-efficacy among patients with type 2 diabetes. This was a randomized clinical trial in which 81 patients with type 2 diabetes were selected based on the inclusion criteria and were randomly allocated into two experimental (n=43) and control (n=38) groups. The experimental group received educational messages. Data were measured at baseline and three months after the intervention. Data were analyzed using the Fisher’s exact test، t-test and ANCOVA in the SPSS-17. The hemoglobin A1C (p<0. 001) and self-efficacy (p=0. 024) were significantly different between the control and experimental groups after the intervention. Our findings indicated a favorable effect of an educational intervention using the mobile phone capabilities. Using digital communication technology in the field of health care delivery and management of health are recommended to change individuals’ behavior.

Given the importance of sexual relationships in marriage and influence of beliefs on types of sexual activities, it seems that premarital sex education can prevent some marital problems and increase sexual knowledge. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of premarital sex education on improvement of couple's sexual dysfunctional beliefs in Isfahan. This was a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest study with a control group. Participants were selected from married couples referring to Imam Ali Charity Center in Isfahan in 2013. Participants were randomly assigned to the experimental (15 pairs) and control groups (15 pairs). Data were gathered using the male and female versions of the Nober and Pintogovia's Sexual Dysfunctional Beliefs Questionnaire. The experimental group received eight sessions of premarital sex education. The control group was in waiting list. The results of the ANCOVA analysis showed that the educational intervention was effective in sexual dysfunctional beliefs among women (p<001) and men (p<001). Premarital sexual skills training can improve sexual dysfunctional beliefs in men and women. Sex education, especially before marriage, can prevent sexual disorders and increase couple's sexual satisfaction and marital intimacy.

The concept and meaning of futile care depends on the existing culture, values, religion, beliefs, medical achievements and emotional status of a country. We aimed to elaborate the concept of futile care from view points of nurses working in critical care units in Iran. The participants of this phenomenological study included 25 nurses working in the ICUs. Face-to-face interviews and observations were used to collect data. All interviews were recorded; and codes and themes were extracted using the Van Manen's analysis method. Initially, 191 codes were extracted. During data analysis and comparisons, the codes were reduced to 178 ones. Ultimately, nine sub-themes and four themes were emerged. The participants defined the futile care as: “useless and ineffective care that wastes resources and irritates and annoys the patients and nurse; and includes Nursing and medical aspects”. Regarding key role of nurses in managing futile care, being aware of their experiences in this regard could be the initial step for providing useful care and delivering educational programs in ICUs.

Preeclampsia is the third leading cause of death in pregnant women. This study was conducted to evaluate the ability of longitudinal hematocrit data to predict preeclampsia and to compare the accuracy in longitudinal and cross-sectional data. In a prospective cohort study from October 2010 to July 2011, 650 pregnant women referred to the prenatal clinic of Milad hospital in Tehran were selected. The hematocrit level was measured in the first, second and third trimester of pregnancy and the participants were followed-up to delivery. The preeclampsia cases were recorded. The Covariance pattern and linear mixed effects models were applied for discriminant analysis of the longitudinal data. Statistical analyses were performed in the SPSS-20 and SAS-9.1. The prevalence rate of preeclampsia was 7.2% (47 out of 650 women). The women with preeclampsia had a higher meanhematocrit values (difference=0.99; P=0.014). The sensitivities for longitudinal data and cross-sectional data in three trimesters were 91%, 54%, 72%, 51% and the specificities were 61%, 51%, 51%, and 47%, respectively. The positive predictive values were 70%, 52%, 59%, 49% and the negative predictive values were 87%, 53%, 64%, and 49%, respectively. The levels of hematocrit can be used to predict preeclampsia and to monitor the pregnant women. Measuring the hematocrit during the three trimesters regularly can help to identify women at risk for preeclampsia.

Patient safety is the most vital indicator of hospital management. Ignorance of the patient safety may lead to an increase in hospital mortality rates due to medical errors. Multiple studies have pointed out that there is a positive association between patient safety culture with reduction of medical errors and improvement in healthcare outcomes. This study was conducted in order to evaluate patient safety culture in hospitals of Amol city in Iran. This descriptive study was carried out among 530 non-physician- healthcare staff selected from three hospitals of Amol city. The instrument of this study was Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture Questionnaire (HSPSCQ) the items of which measure twelve dimensions of patient safety culture. All statistical analysis was performed in the SPSS-16. Among twelve patient safety culture dimensions, the lowest positive responses included: dimensions of staffing (22%), non- punitive policy concerning medical errors (25%), and frequency of adverse event reporting (33%). The staffing, non-punitive policy and frequency of adverse events of patient safety culture aspects were assessed as less desired by nurses. Providing adequate staff and appropriate work hours, and developing the culture of voluntary adverse events and non-punitive policy can help to improve patient safety culture.

Anxiety is one of the most common mental health problems with adverse effects on chronic kidney disease. This study aimed to determine the effect of Two Heart meditation exercise on anxiety in hemodialysis patients. In this clinical trial, 48 hemodialysis patients were randomly allocated into meditation (20 patients) or usual-care (28 patients) Groups. Two Hearts meditation exercises were conducted by the experimental group. The data were collected using the standardized anxiety section of the DASS-21 questionnaire before and at the end of the first and second month after the intervention. Collected data were analyzed in the SPSS-16 using the T-test, Fisher's exact test, Cchi-squared test and repeated measures analysis of variance. There was a significant difference in the mean score of anxiety before, and two months after the intervention. Conducting non-expensive and simple meditation exercises decreased patients’ anxiety. The procedure can be applied in hemodialysis patients to relief their mental symptoms..

The GHQ-12 is a valid mental health screening tool. One of the proposed scoring styles for the GHQ-12 is C-GHQ. This study was designed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the GHQ-12 with the C-GHQ scoring style in women living in Kashan. In this psychometric analysis study, GHQ-12 was translated from English to Persian through back & forward method. A total of 139 women, referred to two health centers in Kashan in summer 2007, were selected through sequential sampling. Data were collected using the GHQ-12 and were scored with the proposed style. Reliability was determined via stability and internal consistency approaches. Validity was assessed via concurrent validity and exploratory factor analysis. The data were analyzed using the Pearson correlation coefficient, intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), spearman-brown, Guttman, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and factor analysis in the SPSS-16. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0/79. The questionnaire stability was reported excellent using the test-re-test method. The item-total correlation confirmed the reliability. The GHQ and life satisfaction scale scores had significant correlation (r=-0/462, p<0/0001). The factor analysis extracted two factors with Eigen value more than one which could explain % 46/66 of the total variance The Persian GHQ-12 with C-GHQ scoring style was valid and reliable in measuring women’s mental health.

The population of elderly is increasing worldwide. Chronic diseases and disabilities arecommon among elderly. Attitudes of health care providers including nurses on elder people affect the quality and priorities of health and medical care. The aim of this study was to assess the attitudes of nurses working in medical-surgical wards in Zanjan hospitals toward elderly. This cross-sectional study was carried out using random sampling to recruit 110 nurses working in medical-surgical wards. Data were collected using the Kogan questionnaire and were analyzed using the T-Test and ANOVA. In this study, 107 nurses (97/3%) had positive attitudes toward the elderly. The attitude scores were not significantly different in subgroups of gender, marital status, age, education, employment, work experience, job location, residency, living with an elderly, having or not having income of the elderly. Interventions to improve attitudes of nurses toward elderly seem to influence the quality of care provided by nurses.